Weis opens its largest, 'greenest' store in Lehigh Valley

The new Fogelsville supermarket is built to please customers and the environment.

The new Weis Markets store will open on Dec. 9 on Route 100 in Fogelsville. (DENISE SANCHEZ, THE MORNING…)

December 09, 2012|Retail Watch | Scanning the Storefronts

Fogelsville residents have been waiting a long time for their own full-scale supermarket. Based on my advance tour, I think they'll be thrilled when the Weis Markets on Route 100 opens its doors Sunday.

Some impressions:

It's big, but not overwhelming: At 65,800 square feet, it's the largest Weis in the Lehigh Valley. It feels spacious and offers some expanded departments.

But it's not so big that you feel like you need walking shoes as you do when you make your way through the (admittedly wonderful) 110,000-square-foot Wegmans in Allentown. Weis spokesman Dennis Curtin thinks this store has found the "sweet spot" in size.

"There's tremendous variety in every way," Curtin says while leading the tour, "but it's a manageable size too. Customers can come in and find everything they need and get out."

For another nearby comparison, it's a bit smaller than the new 74,000-square-foot Giant Foods in Trexlertown.

It's the greenest grocery around: The store was built with lots of environmentally friendly measures. It's expected to be the first Valley grocery store to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to the council's website. We have banks, office buildings and other structures certified as "green," but we haven't had a supermarket on the list.

The 163-store Weis chain has been moving toward greener stores. But this will be the first Weis to be LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by the building council.

The store will use an estimated 22 percent less electricity than typical grocery stores and 60 percent fewer refrigerant emissions, Curtin said.

The changes are subtle: 18 skylights in the middle of the store, dairy refrigerator cases with doors, cases in the frozen-food aisle with LED lights and motion controls that turn the lights off when no one is shopping. Instead of one large condenser system, this store has several condensers that are closer to the foods that need to be kept cold.

Patti Olenick, who has the cool title of Weis' sustainability manager, joined the tour to highlight other elements: the specially treated concrete floors are cleaned with ionized water, not chemicals; the men's room offers waterless urinals as well as low-flow faucets; workers in back rooms recycle like crazy, including cardboard, wax cardboard, pharmacy stock bottles and plastic bags.

Get your beer here! The store has a simple 35-seat cafe. You can buy pizzas whole or by the slice, strombolis, hoagies and specialty sandwiches at the Hoagie Shack, or buy store-made sushi or other prepared foods and bring them to your table. But perhaps the best aspect is that you can buy beer to drink with your meal or to take home. Next to the cafe is a convenient wall of coolers with 300 varieties of beer.

A few more details: The $23 million store is just north of the intersection of Route 100 and Tilghman. It took 21/2 years to buy the land, develop the property and build the store. It's open 24 hours and employs 155.

In other retail news:

The Old School Sandwich Co., which opened a couple weeks ago in South Whitehall Township's Tilghman Square, is a carnival for carnivores.

Co-owner Mike Geary, a chef for 33 years, serves what he describes as "Fred Flintstone sandwiches."

His creations strive for what you'd find on Guy Fieri's Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."

There's the "Steuben," a double-decker Reuben. And the "3 Little Pigs," which combines pork, bacon and a hot dog on toasted Portuguese bread. And also the "Big Bird," a double-decker turkey with grilled sausage and cranberry on toasted sourdough.

"I want to give people good food and a full belly," Geary said. His "big, fat sandwiches" typically provide two meals, he said.

Geary roasts his meats in house and makes his own fresh mozzarella and potato chips.

The restaurant started with a soft opening, and held its grand opening Dec. 1. It's at the site of the former Relish restaurant.

Prices go as low as $2 for a chili dog and $4 for a grilled cheese, but most sandwiches are in the $5 to $8 range.